SkyTran's CEO Jerry Sanders and a pod. SkyTran Imagine if instead of wasting hours in traffic, you could one day fly above it for a price only slightly higher than a subway ride.

That's the idea behind SkyTran, a self-driving monorail designed to hover 20 feet above roads and travel up to 155 mph. The system would turn a two-hour car commute into a 10-minute trip, SkyTran CEO Jerry Sanders tells Tech Insider.

The first SkyTran system will be in Lagos, Nigeria by 2020. The company also just announced that it will launch a track across Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, partnering with local developer Miral. Although there's no official completion date yet, Sanders says there are eventual plans to link the track to the Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Yas Island, a popular tourist hub in Abu Dhabi, attracts over 25 million visitors each year. With the opening of a Warner Bros. theme park in 2018, that number is expected to swell to 30 million.

"Everyone hates commuting, but there are no solutions," Sanders tells Tech Insider. "The only way to get around traffic is to literally go above it."

SkyTran opened a 900-foot test station on the campus of Israel Aerospace Industries near Tel Aviv in late 2015. By the end of 2016, it will start construction of a 25-mile track in Lagos. The track in Abu Dhabi will stretch 10 miles across Yas Island.

SkyTrans' aluminum rail levitates with help from gravity, a magnet, and a short burst of electricity. Once the pod reaches 10 mph, it continues to glide and accelerate without any additional power. Skytran uses the same amount of electricity as two hair dryers, Sanders says.

To request a pod, riders enter their pick-up location and destination in the SkyTran app (assuming they have a smartphone). Unlike a typical light rail or subway system, SkyTran also won't have a schedule — Passengers will just get in the first pod that shows up.

SkyTran's system will then send passengers automatically to their destinations. If the pod needs to stop at a station, it will move to another rail so that the one behind it can pass. The pods theoretically never need to stop for traffic.

The company will spend the next few months planning the route and securing labor and supplies for construction. Sanders hopes to expand to other countries, like India, France, and the US within the next decade.

The ultimate goal is to make driving in cities history, Sanders says. "Countries can't afford to have people spend hours a day stuck in traffic." In congested cities, it may just be the transit alternative we need.

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